The present invention relates to improvements in machines for applying components of fasteners to penetrable carriers, e.g., to panels, webs or sheets of textile or plastic material. More particularly, the invention relates to improvements in machines of the type wherein components of fasteners can be secured to carriers by means of rivet-shaped connectors. Such fasteners are often applied to jeans, jackets, shirts, blouses, overalls and/or other articles of apparel for utilitarian and/or decorative purposes.
As a rule, each fastener of the type whose components are to be treated in the machine of the present invention has a male component and a female component. The male component can be separably connected with the corresponding female component, e.g., to prevent access to a pocket, to hold down a collar, to button down the sleeve of a jacket or shirt, or for purely decorative purposes. The male and female components are applied to one side of the carrier opposite the respective connectors which have rivet heads located at the other side of the carrier as well as shanks which extend through the carrier and are deformed into more or less permanent engagement with the respective (male or female) components of fasteners. As a rule, the male and female components of fasteners are formed with centrally located apertures for the shanks of the respective connectors, and the tips of the shanks are upset so as to overlie portions of the exposed sides of the components to thereby prevent axial movements of the components and the respective connectors relative to each other as well as to securely clamp a portion of the carrier between each male or female component and the respective connector. The female components of fasteners have suitably configurated coupling elements which can be brought into engagement with complementary (i.e., different) coupling elements of the male components. The coupling elements can constitute annuli which extend from exposed sides of the respective (male and female) components, and the coupling element of a male component can penetrate (e.g., by snap action) into the coupling element of a female component to thus complete the assembly of a two-piece fastener. The coupling elements of the male and female components act not unlike male and female detent means and can exhibit a certain amount of resiliency so that they can remain in reliable engagement with one another but can be separated in response to the application of a requisite force.
Male and female components of the above outlined fasteners are assembled with rivet-like connectors in discrete riveting presses or analogous machines. A first press is used to assemble male components of fasteners with suitable connectors, and a second press is employed to assemble connectors with female components. Each press is normally provided with means for automatically feeding male or female components and connectors to the assembling station between two relatively movable confronting tools one of which supports the connector and the other of which supports the male or female component and is designed to deform the shank of the connector as soon as the latter assumes an optimum position with reference to the male or female component.
A drawback of such mode of applying male and female components of fasteners to articles of clothing or the like is that each garment must be treated in a first machine wherein the garment is provided with male or female components and thereupon in a discrete second machine wherein the garment is provided with female or male components of fasteners. The utilization of two discrete machines is deemed necessary because the female components of fasteners are not identical with the male components so that the application of male components necessitates the use of a first set of tools whereas the application of female components necessitates the use of a different second set of tools. The utilization of two discrete riveting presses or analogous machines not only contributes to initial and maintenance cost but also to the cost of the garments because the application of male and female components of fasteners in two different machines is a time-consuming operation. Proposals to replace a first set of tools with a different second set of tools in order to allow for the application of male and female components on one and the same machine have met with little success in the relevant industry because the conversion of a single machine for the application of male or female components is complex and takes up long intervals of time with attendant pronounced losses in output.